Improvement in fastenings for mail-bags



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGH DEMPSEY, OF AUGUSTA, GEORGIA.

IMP ROVEMENT IN FASTENINGS FOR MAIL-BAGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,976, dated July 14, 1874; application filed May 13, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH DEMPsEY, of Augusta, in the State of Georgia, have invented an Improvement in Fastenings tor lVIail-Bags and Pouches, of which the following is a specification:

Mail-bags and pouches for carrying valuables in express transportation are usually made of leather, and, being in the hands of employees generally from the time of their closing until opened by the proper person, are seldom injured for the purpose of abstract ing the contents; but the leather, becoming pliable by constant use, can often be bent and stretched at the mouth of the pouch, so as to allow the contents to he abstracted. This is especially the case where the mailbags or pouches are secured by a leather strap passing through staples or flat loops secured into the leather.

My invention is made to render the fastening of the mouth more secure than heretofore and said improvement consists in a metallic loop-plate attached to the pouch near the mouth thereof, which may he made of pieces hinged together to allowthe mouth of the bag to be freely opened, and a metallic slotted plate attached to the flap and passing over the loops, in combination with a fasteningbar, made preferably of spring-steel, and provided with tongues that are slipped into such loops by an endwise movement, and said fastening-bar is hinged at one end to a swivelplate at the back of the pouch,-and has a hinged hasp at the other end, so that, when the parts are in place, the flap is secured over the mouth of the pouch, and the metallic fastening completely surrounds the parts and holds the angles of the pouch in the most secure manner.

In the drawing, Figure l is an elevation of the pouch with the parts thrown back. Fig. 2 is an elevation with the flap closed and fastened, and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the parts as fastened.

The pouch to is of suitable size and shape. The flap I) and mouth-band c are secured to the pouch by rivets, as usual. The loops or staples d are secured to the loop-plate c that is riveted to the pouch near the mouth, as

shown, and it is preferable to construct this plate 0 in two or more sections hinged together,

as at 3, so that the mouth of the pouch may be opened without bending this plate, and the loops, by preference, made of square metal, so as to be held firmly in position by the bends of the loopplate, as seen in Fig. 3. Upon the flap b is the metallic slotted platef securely fastened, and having openings corresponding in position to the loops (1. The locking-bar h is preferably of sheet-steel, with openings 5 to allow the bar to be placed over the staples or loops, and with tongues 6 to pass into said staples by an end movement given to the bar. At one end of this bar it a hinge, 8, connects the same to the clip on that is hinged to a swivel-joint plate, 72, attached by a rivet to the plate 0 at the back'of the bag or pouch. At the other end of said bar h the clip-plate 1' and hasp s are hinged, and at the back of the bag the hasp-plate u is riveted and provided with a loop or staple, c, for the lock and a sealstud, Q0, bot-h passing through holes in the hasp, and receiving the usual securing lock and seal.

By this construction of locking mechanism the bag or pouch can be very firmly secured, and the clips m and r firmly hold the leather at the angles of the pouch, so that nothing can be abstracted.

I claim as my invention- 1. The metallic locking-bar made with the tongues b and hinged hasp s at one end, and connected by a hinge and plate at the other end, in combination with the loop-plate c, loops (1, and metallic slotted plate f, substantially as set forth.

2. The metallic loop-plate e and loops (1 attached near the mouth of the pouch or bag,

and the transversely-slotted metallic plate)" attached to the flap and passing over such loops, in combination with the metallic locking-bar with openings and tongues, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed by me this 8th day of May, A. D.

HUGH DEMPSEY. \Vi tnesses GEO. T. PINoKNEY, CHAS. H. SMITH. 

